Robin Bryntesson's hectic life, as a self-employed person, parent of small children and full-time guide to Zebastian Modin, took its toll.
In the middle of the season, which is about up to 900 training hours, Bryntesson's body was knocked out.
- I felt incredibly bad.
Depressed.
I started having headaches, heart problems, chest tightness and eye pain.
It was strange things, says the former elite skier who both took JVM gold and won the World Cup as a sprinter.
He was on urgent sick leave, the beginning of a painful life crisis that he never thought would hit him.
A 36-year-old cheerful multi-talent who followed the mantra "it's a day tonight too".
- It's not something I would recommend anyone else to try, he says with the result in hand.
Fled to a hunting lodge
Bryntesson, who also worked intensively in parallel with diabetes issues, an illness he himself had lived with since his teens, went from 100 to 0 with a body that some mornings could not even get out of bed.
He decided to move to a hunting lodge in northern Jämtland, without electricity and water, cut off from civilization.
- I would be there for a few days, which became weeks, which became months before it was finished.
I have been zero creative, mostly trying to breathe.
The fire did not make itself up though, so it felt like a suitable challenge for me then.
After a long period completely cut off from civilization, life has begun to return.
He says himself that he had great help from an understanding family - and to be able to talk about his situation.
Tommy Karls, sports psychologist at the Swedish Parasport Association, has been a great support.
"Very hard to accept"
- For me it was very hard to accept, because "that does not affect me".
It is only since I have been able to accept that I have been able to defeat it, he says and can start looking forward again.
He has even been able to ski again, a little gently with the children, but still with a good feeling.
Bryntesson recommends others at risk to dare to seek help and above all to talk about the problems.
For my own part, life has begun to return.
Or as he himself puts it with squinting eyes:
- Now I have to move on to the next step and then it's just a matter of shaving and getting a job, he says.
CLIP: The ski profile's tough bang - from gold hunt to burnt out (17 February 2022)
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The ski profile's tough bang - from gold hunting to burnt out Photo: SVT